Today I had a discussion linked to one of my two favourite hobbies- Religion and Ethnicities, the latter along the lines of anthropology. These have nothing to do with what I studied, which is civil engineering. Rather those two topics are what really grab my interests and wonder at how amazing human beings are.

I look at my fellow humans and observe how various persons follow diverse religions with different levels of faith; how one faith or the other is chosen if not born with, and mostly, how little they know much about the faiths they follow but somehow deceive themselves into thinking they know enough about their faith and that they are the true chosen ones of the true God.

A great many, be it Buddhists, Christians, Hindus or Muslims border on blind faith. They know who the Head God is, some history about God, Gods, Goddesses, what have you, about that much, and that they will respect that God with blind devotion knowing fully well that they will not get whatever they wish even if they ask that God. Should there be a God who gave you what you asked for, made you happy, made you healthy and so on then the followers of that particular God would logically be right in believing in that God. But no, no God of any religion professes to do this.

In some cases, I fully support religion, when it helps those especially who have literally nothing but the faith, be it in some non-existent entity.

Let me stop here for today and I invite any to debate my seemingly agnostic views expressed here. These agnostic views of mine may rule out a Great Divine Being that created everything but includes the presence of entities that are more powerful than us humans, who may have been humans once and now are just spirits, or who have just been superior beings all along- read “deities”. Deities who have different influences and powers.

In Bhutan especially there are many different local deities with different degrees of influence. Deities are worshiped to a great deal by the Bhutanese. In Thimphu, the local deity of Dechenphu is followed mostly by those born in Thimphu. Then there are some others. Traditional houses have small deities looking after the premises. If any should dirty the surroundings their face breaks out in sores etc. Local deities do not easily forgive breaking of promises made to them. This a very deep field and if anyone is interested we can get into a discussion :). One example of a very strong and unforgiving local deity is the Guardian Deity of the Gelugpas- Dorje Shugden, the worship of whom has been banned by the Dalai Lama himself. One can see protestations by Dorje Shugden practitioners wherever the Dalai Lama comes out in public. Dorji Shugden has been banned from Bhutan too by the Je Khenpo, Bhutan's Chief Abbot.

As mentioned in the article yes happiness in Bhutan is more to deal with the people's contentment with how much they have or more accurately, how little they have. This is possible to the influence of Buddhism on their lives whereby the middle path (not extremes) holds sway.

The rural Bhutanese who eke out a living from their farms live life one day at a time and every evening after a day of hard work in the fields ends with celebration for the farmers- with drink and song and dance :)This is happiness at its purest-

Hey all, recommending visiting this website for an online tour to Bhutan. Second best thing than actually visiting here yourself :) Actually, second best thing might be watching a documentary. And then, magazines in full color. Then slides. hmm so this website is only 5th best. Might as well give it a miss :(

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with Bhutanese students in the UK just before their arrival on a Royal Visit to Bhutan on 14th April 2016 :) Bhutan is excited to welcome Prince William and Princess Kate. Kuzozangpola :)

The Solar New Year has passed and so has the Lunar New Year. The belief is when your own Lunar sign arrives it is bad luck for you and a lot of prayers have to be conducted- prayers (pujas) done by lamas and chortens (stupas) built. Fortunately I am Bull and not Sheep which is this year. Now this naturally depends on how much one can afford I guess. A rich guy may do a lot of these pujas but no social help but a poor guy may have nothing but still helps his fellowman. Whose Karma is stronger now? That is the question...

Been so long I have not posted anything here that it feels like I'm a stranger. Felt like writing something since today was our Annual Chokor Puja (Prayers). On the left are our lamas (monks) doing their concert with cymbals, long trumpet-type thingys and drums. On the right is what comes next, the Bhutanese dancing. Without it, well, the evening is incomplete. Inset, is me holding a skull used to make the 'nectar' pure by the lamas and more importantly, by me to scare my 5 year old daughter. What more is there to say but "God bless this home and all its occupants" :)